托福阅读事实信息题是阅读考试中比较常见的一种题型，tpo则是托福阅读备考最权威的材料，所以托福小编综合二者，为大家集中整理了tpo阅读中考察的事实信息题及其对应的解析，供大家参考使用。本文带来的是 TPO33-2的事实信息题，一起来看看吧。
TPO33-2 Railroads and Commercial Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century United States
【3】The new railroad networks shifted the direction of western trade. In 1840 most northwestern grain was shipped south down the Mississippi River to the bustling port of New Orleans. But low water made steamboat travel hazardous in summer, and ice shut down traffic in winter. Products such as lard, tallow, and cheese quickly spoiled if stored in New Orleans’ hot and humid warehouses. Increasingly, traffic from the Midwest flowed west to east, over the new rail lines. Chicago became the region’s hub, linking the farms of the upper Midwest to New York and other eastern cities by more than 2,000 miles of track in 1855. Thus while the value of goods shipped by river to New Orleans continued to increase, the South’s overall share of western trade dropped dramatically.
4. According to paragraph 3, in what way did the new rail networks change western trade?
A) Northwestern farmers almost completely stopped shipping goods bysteamboat.
B) Many western goods began to be shipped east by way of Chicago rather than south to New Orleans.
C) Chicago largely replaced New York and other eastern cities as the final market for goods for the West.
D) The value of goods shipped west soon became greater than the value of goods shipped east.
答案 B
解析：定位句The new railroad networks shifted the direction of western trade. Chicago became the region‟s hub, linking the farms of the upper Midwest to New York and other eastern cities by more than 2,000 miles of track in 1855. 意思是铁路的建设转移了西方贸易的方向, 芝加哥成为了贸易中心, 取代原先的新奥尔良。因此答案是B。
【3】The new railroad networks shifted the direction of western trade. In 1840 most northwestern grain was shipped south down the Mississippi River to the bustling port of New Orleans. But low water made steamboat travel hazardous in summer, and ice shut down traffic in winter. Products such as lard, tallow, and cheese quickly spoiled if stored in New Orleans’ hot and humid warehouses. Increasingly, traffic from the Midwest flowed west to east, over the new rail lines. Chicago became the region’s hub, linking the farms of the upper Midwest to New York and other eastern cities by more than 2,000 miles of track in 1855. Thus while the value of goods shipped by river to New Orleans continued to increase, the South’s overall share of western trade dropped dramatically.
5. According to paragraph 3, what was a disadvantage of shipping goods from northwestern areas to New Orleans?
A) There was no reliable way to get goods from New Orleans to eastern cities.
B) The cost of shipping goods by river to New Orleans continued to increase.
C) Goods shipped from New Orleans’ neighboring areas had a significant competitive advantage because of their lower transportation costs.
D) The temperatures and humidity.
答案 B
解析：Thus while the value of goods shipped by river to New Orleans continued to increase, the South‟s overall share of western trade dropped dramatically. 意思是说因为虽然货物本身的价值在增加, 但是南部的市场份额却在下降, 就暗示了越来越少人的人愿意通过该途径运货, 即要么速度太慢要么成本太高。因此这道题的答案是B。
【4】A sharp rise in demand for grain abroad also encouraged farmers in the Northeast and Midwest to become more commercially oriented. Wheat, which in 1845 commanded $1.08 a bushel in New York City, fetched $2.46 in 1855; in similar fashion the price of corn nearly doubled. Farmers responded by specializing in cash crops, borrowing to purchase more land, and investing in equipment to increase productivity.
6. Paragraph 4 supports the idea that the price of wheat more than doubled between 1845 and 1855 because
A) the price of corn nearly doubled during that same period
B) dDemand for grain increased sharply outside the United States
C) fFarmers in the Northeast and Midwest began to specialize in cash crops
D) many farmers had borrowed heavily to purchase land and equipment for raising wheat
答案 B
解析：定位句A sharp rise in demand for grain abroad also encouraged farmers in the Northeast and Midwest to become more commercially oriented. 国外的粮食需求猛增, 然后该段最后出现的结果就是价格上升。
【5】As railroad lines fanned out from Chicago, farmers began to acquire open prairie land in Illinois and then Iowa, putting the fertile, deep black soil into production. Commercial agriculture transformedthis remarkable treeless environment. To settlers accustomed to eastern woodlands, the thousands of square miles of tall grass were an awesome sight. Indian grass, Canada wild rye, and native big bluestem all grew higher than a person. Because eastern plows could not penetrate the densely tangled roots of prairie grass, the earliest settlers erected farms along the boundary separating the forest from the prairie. In 1837, however, John Deere patented a sharp-cutting steel plow that sliced through the sod without soil sticking to the blade. Cyrus McCormick refined a mechanical reaper that harvested fourteen times more wheat with the same amount of labor. By the 1850s McCormick was selling 1,000 reapers a year and could not keep up with demand, while Deere turned out 10,000 plows annually.
10. According to paragraph 5, the first settlers generally did not farm open prairie land because
A) they could not plow it effectively with the tools that were available
B) prairie land was usually very expensive to buy
C) the soil along boundaries between the forest and the prairie was more fertile than the soil of the open prairie
D) the railroad lines had not yet reached the open prairie when the first settlers arrived
答案 A
解析：定位句Because eastern plows could not penetrate the densely tangled roots of prairie grass, the earliest settlers erected farms along the boundary separating the forest from the prairie. 原因是犁不能穿透草地, 因此答案只能可能是A。
以上就是托福阅读TPO33-2中的事实信息题及其解析，大家可以在备考的时候参考复习，希望能够帮助大家的考前准备。最后前程百利祝大家都能取得理想的托福考试成绩。
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